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The movie "Fitna" gets a big thumbs up from Professor Smooth Hands. I watched it, and felt kind of sick. It might be xenophobic and it paints in broad strokes. Still, I have heard enough idiots shout that zionism=racism and that Islam is the religion of peace. I have yet to hear a good argument for either claim. I am curious to hear your thoughts on the film.
Before anyone poo poo's the film's thesis, note that the website that first hosted this film had to take it down due to death threats.
Watch the film and leave a comment or give me a call.
Other news:
The movie "Fitna" gets a big thumbs up from Professor Smooth Hands. I watched it, and felt kind of sick. It might be xenophobic and it paints in broad strokes. Still, I have heard enough idiots shout that zionism=racism and that Islam is the religion of peace. I have yet to hear a good argument for either claim. I am curious to hear your thoughts on the film.
Before anyone poo poo's the film's thesis, note that the website that first hosted this film had to take it down due to death threats.
Watch the film and leave a comment or give me a call.
posted by Old Stallion at 10:28 AM
3 Comments:
Normally, I trust Young Buck Invincible's judgment on all things, but I have to admit, this film and filmmaker make me very uncomfortable. I find fundamentalist Islam to be one of the most, if not the most, destructive forces in the world right now, but I have a problem with the way this is presented in the film. Presenting a carefully selected set of highly emotionally charged clips and context-free excerpts from the Koran does not provide any solid information or serve any artistic purpose. This is propaganda, plain and simple. There are incredibly nutty, violent, cuckoo-bananas sentences in every religious text. You could find similar passages in the Bible. The filmmaker, Geert Wilders, is a far-right politician who has some scary fascistic, xenophobic, racist tendencies himself. He favors restricting immigration for non-Western people, and his comments about this make him sound like a neo-Nazi. He compares immigration to "a war" and says that he doesn't feel like he lives in his own country anymore. This is the exact same language white supremacists use on their websites. He also favors banning the Koran and eliminating welfare. These stances creep me out. The little Arab girl in the film saying that Jews are swine reminded me of the woman in my hometown I heard tell her tiny daughter to stay away from the Mexican migrant workers down the street because they were "filthy" and "perverted." What I mean by mentioning that is that fundamentalism, intolerance, racism, and xenophobia of all kinds make me feel sick, angry, and depressed. Also, the pictures of Muslims holding signs in English promoting Hitler look like they have been Photoshopped. I can't be certain about this, so I'll look into it. I agree with what you say about fundamentalist Islam. It is a lot scarier than other fundamentalist religious beliefs, and its practitioners seem to be throwbacks to the Middle Ages. Assembly of God congregations and Orthodox Jews aren't calling for a holy war or flying planes into buildings or beheading people. This needs to be said, and said often. But there was a time when Christians, etc., were doing these things (or the archaic equivalents), and I know a lot of non-fundamentalist Muslims who are good and tolerant people. I wish the world were a better, more tolerant, less violent place, and I do think this film is powerful and effective, but I'm not sure it's helping anything. You know more about this topic than I do. Am I making any sense? I'd like to hear more from you about it.
I would also like to add, because my first post didn't make this clear, that everything they're showing in this film did, indeed, happen because of fundamentalist Islamic groups. My beef is with Wilders' motivations and methods of presentation. Also, I looked into the Hitler signs, and they were not Photoshopped. They were real. My bad. Don't hate on me.
"There are more women waiting for me in the hallway of this TV studio than you've ever met." -- "Nature Boy" Ric Flair, ca. 1985.
Im not hating on the good doctor. I am just thinking about what you said, and thinking about a response. Peace
Youngbuck Mcgarnical
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